The impact of our Virtual Programmes – a step closer to reaching more pupils!
School closures in 2021 had a hugely negative impact on young people across the country. The absence of in-school education and other means of support at home, like private tutoring, has pushed disadvantaged pupils further behind and widened the attainment gap to an even greater extent.
During these school closures, Action Tutoring gained a huge amount of experience in managing sessions remotely when pupils were based at home. This experience has been invaluable in pivoting to pilot a virtual model where pupils are in school but Action Tutoring staff and volunteers are supporting remotely.
With the average cost of a tutor at £26 an hour, private tuition is simply not an option for the pupils that we support. As more and more young people access private tutors, the gap in attainment between disadvantaged young people and their peers will grow.
We want to support as many disadvantaged pupils as we can, across as many regions as possible and outside of urban centres. So, in 2022, we launched our virtual tutoring programmes to reach even more pupils!
What are Action Tutoring virtual programmes?
Thanks to the support of our determined volunteer tutors, partner schools and staff team, Action Tutoring has made tutoring more accessible for children from disadvantaged backgrounds with our new virtual model. In this model, pupils log in to the session from school and Action Tutoring staff and volunteers support them remotely.
Some of our current virtual volunteering opportunities take place with pupils from the partner schools in Luton, Corby, Portsmouth and Rotherham.
Here are some of the schools where our virtual volunteering opportunities take place!
How do virtual programmes work?
With the help of technology and the right resources, our virtual programmes work exactly like our in-person ones. One to three pupils are supported by a volunteer tutor, for an hour per week across the course of 10-20 weeks. Pupils receive English or maths tutoring from the comfort of their classroom (or IT suite!), usually before, during or after the school day.
Our Training and Curriculum team has worked hard to create the learning materials that volunteers need for their tutoring sessions. These are carefully tailored to the national curriculum, and what pupils need to know to pass their SATs and GCSEs.
Our online learning platform, Vedamo, and online tutor workbooks enable our volunteers to spend the maximum amount of time on tutoring during the one-hour session, rather than preparing or addressing tech issues.
Working closely with teachers, our Programme Coordinators are on hand to oversee delivery, manage any issues that may arise during virtual sessions, support tutors, and monitor the quality of the tutoring.
They are all passionate about educational equality and work hard to ensure pupils gain the most from their tutoring sessions with our volunteers.
‘’I have been so impressed with the work of Action Tutoring. Their tutors are so well trained and were able to forge positive working relationships in the first session. Their online platform, which we have moved to recently, is incredibly easy to use and the move from face-to-face tutoring to online has been seamless. If you are lucky enough to partner with Action Tutoring – don’t ever let them go!’’
Deputy Headteacher, London
Be part of our volunteering team!
Our vision as a charity is a world in which no child’s life chances are limited by their socio-economic background.
For this, we use the power of volunteer tutors to bridge the gap and ensure that tutoring support can be accessed by every pupil who needs it, not just those who can afford it.
As a volunteer, your help could make a difference in allowing pupils to catch up on vital learning and help them improve their academic performance in English and maths.